I have my first private lesson student! I am very excited about her because her owner really wants to work with her. The owner is an older man, probably in his 70s. He rescued a year old lab from his neighbor who was not feeding her and she was being kept outside with no shelter. He says she is a very friendly dog and great with people, but does not like getting in the van or going through doors. They finally got her to go in their house. Her previous owners probably beat her when she came in the house. For the first lesson, I wanted to work on getting her in the van because the poor man has to have one of his children pick her up to put him in the van. Depending on her reactions, we may just do a walk around the store with lots of treats and fun. If she is really nervous, we will go to the back room and work on something easy like sit or "the box game" with a clicker. Maybe both. The lesson is on a Monday so the store will be pretty dead. I think the box game might give her a bit of confidence in learning. Its fun and she can't lose! I'm going to make some liver treats so we have some high value treats. Does anyone have any ideas on other things that I can use to help this dog? Most of it is going to be just plain socialization since she has had none, but any ideas would be great!